


Because you found me that day

by Haya_dono



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 16:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20744894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haya_dono/pseuds/Haya_dono
Summary: For Dimileth's Week. Prompt Modern AU.Dimitri comes across his high school teacher after years of not seeing each other. While reluctanct at first, it is his craving for something which makes him accept her offer to spend time together.Even if the shadows who follow him everywhere tell him he can't.





	Because you found me that day

**Author's Note:**

> This is unbeta'd, and I am not sure when I'll be able to update it properly. I apologize for any mistakes in the document, I wanted to post it ASAP for the prompt day.

“Oh, Dimitri? Is that you? You’ve really grown.”

It was perhaps a cruel twist of fate, Dimitri meeting her after all these years.

“Ah, Professor, it’s been so long!”

He expects the typical pleasantries, how he has been, what he is up to. What he is doing there, if he is studying. She doesn’t mention the eyepatch, thankfully.

Next thing, she suggests going to a coffee shop she frequents. He’s torn inside, this familiarity is something he has avoided for years, following his obliged solitude, but he yearns for it. It’s not the crowded places he misses, it’s the quiet conversation, the feeling of trust of a friend.

It’s a feeling he doesn’t deserve.

Why did it have to be her the one he met?

The shadows behind her say he can’t go. One gets closer to his ear, enough to raise the short hairs on his neck, whispering sweetly, viciously, what makes he think he deserves this exchange, this touch with humanity.

It makes it harder to tell her to go away.

He thinks what he’ll say, far too many lies he has used with the people he was close with should work now. But it’s her warm hand clasped against his which stops him as she gently guides him. When he notices it, a bell chimes, the strong smell of coffee and a soothing warmth bathes him.

* * *

“No matter what you do, they won’t disappear,” Byleth says softly as she swirls the chocolate straw in her drink. It’s not like he can taste anything, but chamomile tea soothes his nerves. They are seated in a table to the back of the shop, it’s warm and, more importantly, almost deserted except for that man working on his laptop with the earphones keeping him in his own little world. It’s always so exhausting interacting with others as the shadows dance around him, teasing him because he doesn’t deserve a normal conversation.

He doesn’t deserve to live.

“What do you mean, Professor?”

“The ghosts you see, they won’t disappear.”

A cold wave travels down his spine, Dimitri unconsciously tenses, his grip so strong on the spoon he's holding that it bends completely. Which is it, the way Byleth says those words or the fact that she even said them, which elicits this reaction from him?

He had never taken her for a believer, she taught him Chemistry and was never seen praying. She had admitted once participating in the school's mass out of habit, since every other professor in school did so and she didn’t want to stand out.

“From the way you’re looking at me, you’ve never told anyone before. Well,” she says, as a matter of fact. Her face looks serene, no, it’s the look of someone who has been holding this burden for a long time, all by themselves. “It’s not an easy thing to tell anyone about.”

“…”

“How long were you dead? I guess it was when you got that eyepatch.”

There is no reply, the only sound filling the air is the faint piano melody coming from the speakers next to them. She holds his hand again, it is so warm. It’s been so many years since she last saw him, telling him to always consider her a friend, after he graduated from her class. It almost feels like a lie, that she is keeping her word all these years.

The shadow to his right says so.

“Five minutes.”

“That’s-”

“For us, it’s nothing. For them, it is an eternity.”

It’s the regret flooding him again, because he can take the liberty of judging what is long and what isn’t. The dead don’t have that luxury.

“You’re a good kid, Dimitri. You’ve always been.”

She pats his head, never mind she’s almost a ruler length shorter than him. His disheveled hair and the eyepatch certainly don’t support that observation.

He had never talked much about it, the eyepatch and what happened. Everyone he knows has heard of the story, not from him of course, it happened shortly after he enrolled. This is the first time he’s telling it to someone, Byleth listens quietly, nodding to let him know he has her full attention, even if she should have heard about it.

It was the talk for a year, how the prestigious and important Blaiddyd family got in a horrible car accident five years ago. The weather had been terrible that year, and that particular day had been very foggy, with unrelenting rain. He and his parents were driving to an evening party in a mansion up a hill. The news said it was an unfortunate series of events, an animal crossing the road, the slippery asphalt and the inclination of the hill, all contributed to their car crashing into another.

There were no animals there, they were closer to the mansion which was the only reason how anyone would notice the accident and would phone for help. The theory didn’t make sense, but at this point, Dimitri is too tired to care. There were rumors of foul play, of cut brakes and oil on the road, though the insurance company made an extensive investigation, they don’t hand in money easily. There were more hideous rumors, of a heated argument because one of the involved had been caught in an affair, that his step-mother was tired of being just a trophy wife, that his father was already drunk. He doesn’t remember it, his mind has blocked the moments before the crash, only the lights from the incoming car remain, vivid as ever.

All he can say is hearsay, even if he should be the one who remembers it best.

Next thing he was aware of was the hospital bed he was lying in, the sight from only one of his eyes. The shadows were next to them, but he couldn’t talk about them. The only time he mentioned them, the neurologist concluded it was result of the trauma, same which might have taken his sense of taste as well.

“They told me I was dead for five minutes. There was a high risk of brain damage. After that accident, I saw them and I never questioned them.”

“That’s not the result of brain damage,” Byleth replies calmly, though she’s struggling trying to open the bag of cookies she bought along her frappe. “They are very real, you can only see them when you have died and come back.”

“How can you be so sure, Professor? How is it not just depression?”

“Oh, you are depressed. You just happen to see dead people too. I see them as well.”

* * *

Ever since that fateful encounter, Dimitri has finally forced himself to go out more often. It’s partially that relief that the shadows he sees aren’t just another sign that he is broken beyond repair. Byleth doesn’t know this, but his words have given him a comfort no one else had. He still suffers in silence, as he works on his assignments and studies for his exams, but at least he knows now what ails him, and even if it the shadows will haunt him forever, he can stop torturing himself over him seeing them.

He had exchanged numbers with Byleth, finally daring to send a message to someone in years. He has difficulty at first, instant messaging has changed so much in a short time. It doesn’t help that his old feelings have surfaced again, it took him an hour to find the right words to ask her out, only for her to drop a casual hello and ask him out instead. He likes the coffee shop, it’s quiet and warm. The seats in the back are comfortable and even if he can’t taste anything, the aroma is quite pleasant. From her expression eating all the cookies and pastries they sell, he imagines the food is also delicious too.

“I’ve seen them all my life,” Byleth says, shrugging so casually that it would look hilarious. To anyone, it would seem like they are on a date and not talking about the dead. “Apparently I was dead at birth. The doctors managed to rescue me, and I’ve seen them ever since.”

“I didn’t know that, Professor,” he says as he takes his tea. It’s the only thing he’ll have but it’s fine, Byleth has told him he can take any sweet or pastry from her big tray of sugar if he wants. The shadows look at him with burning jealousy, but he finally doesn't mind.

“You didn’t tell your friends either. It’s not something you can freely talk about.”

“It isn’t easy,” he admits. “Even now, there are times I wish I could speak freely about it, but at the same time I wish I wouldn’t. My friends are busy with their own lives… to wonder about the dead. But, please continue Professor. I didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

She lets out a laugh, she has always looked mesmerizing when she smiles. “Even after all you’ve been through, you’re still so polite.” She doesn’t know how she makes his heart race. “It was… weird at first, I guess. I thought seeing people and the shadows was normal. I only realized I wasn’t seeing what others were when my father looked at me as if I had grown three eyes when I asked him about the man at the end of the hall. After that, I found it hard to talk to others. I didn’t know if they were alive or not. They all appeared before my eyes and I couldn’t tell them apart.”

“I would have never guessed. Sometimes they look the same to me. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what you went through, Professor.”

“I admit it wasn’t easy, and I probably earned myself a couple of names too,” she laughs as she takes a chocolate brownie. “I eventually got the hang of it, who was safe to talk to and who was someone the others didn’t see. Though everyone you see is-”

“Full of regret and hatred, I know that well,” Dimitri finishes her sentence, heavy and painful. “They always tell me I don’t deserve to be here.”

She ponders for a moment, brownie in hand. “Did you ever see the people in the other car?”

“I didn’t. And after I was discharged, I was afraid to look up their pictures.”

“Do you see your parents along them?”

“No, I don’t. They are people I have never met before.”

“Perhaps they are the victims of the car crash, the car your family ran into. It would make sense for them to try to hurt you that way.”

“You can say it as it is, Professor.” Despite the mood, he is smiling softly, it’s so faint, he is himself surprised. “I see what you mean, and I believe you are correct. My life after that accident, it would all make sense. They resent me for surviving, because I am here and they are not.”

“Dimitri, you don’t deserve any of this.” She holds her hand in between his, so small yet comforting. “I’ve never been through what you did, but never forget, it is not your fault.”

He lowers his gaze, it’s strange to be hearing this, after years of these shadows telling him otherwise. She wasn’t there, they were. Why would she be right and they wrong? Isn’t she saying this out of pity? But no matter what the voices, his own inner voice says, there is another wishing to cling to her words like an anchor, because it’s the first time he’s seen light in years of darkness.

* * *

The next time they meet, she quietly hands him a small package. It’s a lollipop with some powder inside, candy rock.

“I’ll feel better if we both can enjoy the chat while we eat and drink. Tell me if you like the lollipop.”

He wants to say he’s too old for candies, but when the candy rocks explode in his mouth, some small and others large, but none hurting, he is quite excited about it. He also feels exposed, she could tell he had lost his sense of taste, something he had managed to hide from almost everyone he met. Still, that she had gone through the trouble of finding something he could enjoy that didn’t involve taste…

He could never repay her kindness and support.

“I was thinking, your parents have never appeared before you, right? Perhaps they accepted their deaths. Only those with lingering regrets stay here.”

“How can you be so sure, Prof- B-Byleth…?”

Saying her name is so difficult, even if she demanded him to drop the Professor. He likes how it rolls on his tongue, but he only did it in private and not in front of her.

“I talked to a few of them. When I was younger, I thought that I could use this skill to help people. Aiming to be a forensics specialist could let me do that. I had convinced my father to let me work with the lab for a week. He’s a cop.” She smiles bitterly, she destroys that latte art on her cup. “I thought I could talk with the victims there. But… by noon, I was out of the building. You’ll easily become overwhelmed, feeling the burden of their deaths falls on your shoulders.”

He snorts, it sounds like being told the obvious events he has been going through. “No matter what I do, I can never silence their pleas.”

“You must live for yourself and what you believe in, Dimitri.”

His vision is blurred, he can’t believe what he is hearing, but Byleth repeats it over and over, his hand between hers.

The shadows scream at him, demand that he lets go of that hand and leaves her forever. But he refuses to let go and for a single moment, he stops listening to them.

* * *

He has agreed to go to a therapist. His visions of the dead can be something he talks with Byleth in great detail, but his high functioning depression needs to be worked with a professional. Byleth will support him in any way she can, but she is just a Chemistry teacher, there is a limit to what she can do.

There are far too many nights where he wakes up in cold sweat, some dreams haunting him are just painful, others unbearable. Yet, he takes solace in that message he received from her, or the picture as his phone wallpaper of Dimitri and Byleth, taken as they were caught off guard looking at the clouds in the sky. Some days are a nightmare, but he will handle somehow, no matter how loud the shadows scream, or the hideous words they aim at him. He isn’t alone, he had mistakenly thought it was the case, but starting from Byleth, he has found that he has few but very loyal friends. He has started to mend his relationship with them, hoping one day they forgive him for having withdrawn and pushed them away.

He thinks at times of the future. One day, he’ll gather the courage to kiss Byleth on the lips, to carry her in his arms. But for now, he is content just by holding her hand like an unspoken eternal promise of love as they walk under the night sky.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!  
I wanted to toy with the idea of the ghosts Dimitri sees in the game as real, coupled with his own depression and this was the result. It's not an immediate happy ending for Modern Dimitri either, but he'll get there slowly.  
I also wanted to play with a Dimitri who is mostly sad and without his unreasonable hatred and rage at Edelgard. He suffers though ;A;


End file.
